Terry's 49th Birthday

Since April, I have been working on TERRY's SURPRISE BIRTHDAY/BUCKET LIST TRIP!!! He has had Wrigley Field on his list of baseball field's to watch a game in for years. The Atlanta Braves is one of his top two favorite teams. Well this year, in 2013, the Braves played at Wrigley Field the weekend of Terry's birthday...WALAHH!

 For those of you who do not know, Wrigley Field is in Chicago, Illinois. If you have never been to the city, we recommend you go. It was b-e-a-utiful! Totally not what we expected. We stayed on the Millennium Mile, walked everywhere or rode the very clean subway. An Architectural Boat Tour gave us our first viewing of the buildings...stunning! What a great way to see the cityscape!

We tried to take in as much as we could in the 2 full days we had there. Navy Pier and the ginormous ferris wheel gave us some great views as well.

We made the long trek to the top of the John Hancock building...94 stories...only took about 60 seconds in an elevator that travels 20mph.

And the view from the top was spectacular!

 

Of course we had to take in some pizza pie. Giardano's was our choice..it was a really thick, scrumptious, slice heaven on earth, if you like pizza!

Maybe cinnamon rolls and a good breakfast is more your thing... Ann Sather's is the place to go. Huge, hot, yummy cinnamon rolls is one of the sides to your "southern" breakfast plate.

 And not be left out, a Chicago dawg...well, as you can see, I was a little leery of the relish but if I could do over again, I'd load it up with relish and grilled onions! Thank heavens we were walking everywhere or I would have gained 10 pounds in two days!

All the while we explored this city, we were continually amazed at the beauty it has to offer. Not only were the streets clean of trash and the buildings stunning, but the huge ornamental pots on almost every corner were abundantly filled with green and lots of flowering beauties! The zoo, which was free, was worth paying for!

 

And for the grand finale, we took the subway to Wrigley Field for the Cubs v. Braves game. Although the Braves lost that night, they came back to win the next night and clench going to the playoffs.

 Happy Birthday My Sweet Man! I'm so blessed to have been able to share this experience with you!

 

 

 
 
 

Beginning of School

In August, Jack started high school in 9th grade and Kate started 3rd grade, both at Roosevelt School...and both excited to start a new school year.

As a freshman, Jack was excited to take some different classes and be on the JV football team.

 And as usual, Kate was extremely excited to be back in school. 

The year started out with a bang...after surviving 2-a-days in football, Jack found himself with a broken finger on Labor Day weekend, the day before turning 15 years old, due to "tossing" the football around with big brother, Travis. Surprisingly, it was not able to be manipulated back into place. Jack underwent out-patient surgery to place a pin in his finger, to which his hand was incapacitated for about 5 weeks. Best part of that was

Aunt Vickie was the surgical nurse to the hand specialist he saw.

  

Kate played soccer again this year. Whether hot or cold temperatures, she was consistantly one of the fastest on the team and quick to the ball. We will be looking into a soccer league in the Spring.

Kate still loves to hang out with her friends, ride her razor, play with River and reading. This season, she was invited to go to her first Texas Tech football game and cheer on the Red Raiders!

 

 

Summer Vacation 2013 @ the Coast

In July, we took off to the Texas coast for a little relaxation & fishing in Port Aransas. A little history: Terry is not real keen on beach vacations! I love a good beach vacation! I agreed to not expect him to "just sit around on the beach getting all sandy" with the kids and me. We both compromised on 5 days, including the 9 hour travel days!
Our small complex was quaint and comfy! A short walk to the boardwalk and we were on the beach!

 

 

Arriving on a Wednesday, we had the beach practically to ourselves! The kids and I spent time on the beach and playing in the surf while Terry fished for a day. We went to Corpus a day to the USS Lexington and the Texas State Aquarium. Of course we enjoyed lots of fresh seafood and pool time also.

Our last day in Port Aransas was spent with a sweet friend of mine...Jennifer Axelrod drove down and us girls hung out while                                        the boys went fishing.

 

  

And believe it or not, Terry did sit on the beach with us for a little bit!